Japanese women are signing a petition to ban high heel requirements in the workplace

Petition receives more than 19,000 signatures

Japanese women are fighting high heel dress codes in the workplace (Stock)

Japanese women are signing a petition to change office dress codes that require women to wear high heels to work.

The campaign, which has since been signed more than 19,000 times, was started by Tokyo artist and writer Yumi Ishikawa, who originally shared her frustrations with the strict outdated dress code on social media.

“I’m hoping to get rid of the custom that someday women have to wear heels and pumps at work,” she wrote on Twitter.

To raise awareness to the campaign, Ishikawa coined the hashtag #KuToo, a play on the words “kutsu” meaning shoes and “kutsuu” meaning pain.

In the petition, Ishikawa discusses being forced to wear heels for her job working in a funeral parlour, which can cause bunions, lower back pain and blisters.

The writer also asked why men in Japan are not required to follow similar standards in the workplace.

“Why is the same thing not a violation of manners due to different genders?” she wrote.

Despite gaining nearly 20,000 signatures, an official at Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s equal employment opportunity division told CNN there are no plans to change the rules or implement a law that restricts companies from employing dress codes.

“If common sense or ideas about manners in society change, the rules might be subject to change," the official said, adding that men are often expected to follow dress codes that require ties or leather shoes.

Regarding the issue, Ishikawa told Reuters: “Japan is thick-headed about gender discrimination. It’s way behind other countries in this regard.”

Japan currently ranks 110th out of 149 countries in the World Economic Forum’s gender-equality ranking.

In 2016, Nicola Thorp launched a similar petition in Britain after she was sent home from work for refusing to wear heels.

Despite launching a parliamentary investigation, the government ultimately rejected a bill banning companies from requiring women to wear high heels.

According to a study published in the Journal of Orthopaedic Research, wearing high heels can increase the lifetime risk of osteoarthritis, while an article published by the American Osteopathic Association states long-term wear of high heels can "pull muscles and joints out of alignment" leading to muscle pain.